You may be seeking help for many different issues and concerns such as depression, anger, anxiety, bereavement, sleep problems and stress.

When you are looking for a therapist it is important that you find someone with whom you feel comfortable and can build a trusting relationship. It can also be confusing knowing which sort of therapy might be right for you or the issue, and then there are questions about costs and length of sessions.

If you have a question about therapy or counselling, you may find the answer below.

You will also find out more about each individual therapists’ particular interests and specialisms from their profiles. To view the therapists’ profile page visit ‘London Therapists’.

Some Questions & Answers about therapy & therapy sessions

Click any question to view the answer

How do I go about choosing a therapist?

Research shows again and again that the effectiveness of the therapy or counselling is affected by the relationship you have with your therapist or counsellor.

It is therefore important that you find someone who you feel comfortable with and who you can build a trusting relationship with. We suggest that you chat on the telephone to a few therapists or to meet several before deciding who you would like to work with. The initial session is an opportunity for both you and the therapist to decide if you would like to work together.

If you are uncertain which psychotherapist will best match your needs then please contact Sandhya Bhattacharya by email, and she will help you find a therapist available at a time that suits you.

Sandhya's Contact Details enquiries@citytherapyrooms.co.uk

If you are in crisis and need to speak to someone urgently

Please note, this is not an emergency service and it may take time for you to arrange an initial appointment with one of the therapists. If you need to speak to someone urgently, please consider contacting one the following services:

The Samaritans Open 24 hours, seven days a week:
Call 116 123
www.samaritans.org

Specific Samaritan link on wanting to kill yourself: I want to kill myself

If speaking to someone over the phone does not feel right for you, you can make contact via email to: jo@samaritans.org

Befrienders Suicide support befrienders.org

How long does a session last?

Generally sessions are between 45 mins to 1 hour. Some therapists have this info at the end of their profiles. If not, please ask individual therapists.

How long will it take?

This depends very much on you and how you work, what you put into the work in between sessions and what you are working on. Your therapist and you will review your work regularly so that you can get a sense of how it is going and how long you might continue working. Most therapists will work short term for dealing with immediate issues or events in a defined period or longer term with an open ended contract with regular reviews for working more deeply. This can be discussed with your therapist in your first session. Some forms of therapy are focused and and are shorter term such as CBT.

How much will it cost?

After the initial session, and assuming you decide to work together, most therapists ask for a minimum weekly commitment at the beginning to ensure the relationship has a good chance to develop and so that the work can get underway.

What if I am on anti-depressants?

Psychotherapists do not prescribe anti-depressants. These will be prescribed by your GP or psychiatrist. Counsellors and therapists often work with people who are taking anti-depressants or support them as they come off anti-depressants.

What is the difference between psychotherapy and counselling?

These terms are often used interchangeably. However, counselling is often used to refer to shorter term more focussed work, dealing with a particular issue whereas psychotherapy or therapy is often used to describe longer term work, which may be more in depth.

What issues or areas of concern can I bring to therapy?

Anything! Human experience is extraordinarily varied, so the following isn’t an exhaustive list, but it may be helpful to see some topics that people often come to discuss:

Some Questions & Answers about qualifications & professional associations

What are the different forms of therapy?

It can be confusing working out which sort of therapy might be right for you, below we have listed a few of the more widely practiced styles of therapy and one or two less well known models of therapy:

Art therapy / Creative therapy:

Art therapy, Creative therapy, Visual art therapy, are forms of psychotherapy using any creative process of making art to explore and communicate issues, feelings and emotions which may be too difficult or distressing, for the client, to express in words. It can also be used to relieve stress, improve mental wellbeing and increase self-awareness. Visual art therapy can include drawing, painting, photography and modelling and is used with individuals and groups of all ages.

More about Art therapy ...

Behavioural therapy / Cognitive therapy / Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Behavioural therapies, Cognitive therapies are based on the belief that your unwanted or unhealthy behaviours are learned responses to your past experiences. The therapist and the therapy will focus on current problems and aim to help you learn new, more positive behaviours without having to analyse the past.

Behavioural therapy often works well for obsessive or compulsive behaviours, fears, phobias and addictions.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) aims to help you change the way you think (cognitive) and what you do (behaviour). but unlike behavioural therapy, rather than looking at past and what may have caused the issue, it focuses on current problems and practical solutions to help you now.

The way we think about situations affects the way we feel and behave. If we view a situation negatively, we may experience negative emotions and feelings which lead us to behave in an unhelpful way. Your therapist will help you identify and challenge any negative thinking so you can deal with situations better and behave in a more positive way.

CBT can be helpful for depression, anxiety, stress, phobias, obsessions, eating disorders and managing long term conditions.

More about CBT therapy ...

Coaching & Executive Coaching

Coaching & Executive coaching is a collaborative, conversation-based process, which emphasises and builds on your existing skills and helping you to develop them or to turn your percieved weaknesses into strengths.Coaching supports you in achieving greater self-awareness, improved self-management skills and increased self-efficacy, so that you can develop your own goals and solutions. It is often focused on supporting you in making changes, either to how things are at present or to work towards a goal in the future. Coaching is very often 'Goal'orientated.

Coaching sessions may be quite structured and directional or interactive, and can be longer than standard 'therapy' sessions often scheduled for 90 to 120 minutes. Coaching may follow a specific model, but many coaches integrate more than one model, along with elements of therapeutic (psychotherapy) approaches such as person-centred, solution focused or CBT.

Existential therapy

The term 'Existential' litterally means relating to human existence and experience. Existential psychotherapy explores the some of the inner conflicts and anxieties people often experience when confronted with their own 'existence', life's ultimate concerns, such as the inevitability of death, freedom and its responsibilities, isolation and thoughts around the lack of any meaning to life.

Counsellors can help you confront your anxieties and negative thoughts, enabling you to make decisions about how to live life and deal with life problems in your own way.

Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR)

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an interactive psychotherapy technique used to relieve psychological stress. It is an effective treatment for trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). EMDR is thought to imitate the psychological state that we enter when in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Studies have shown that when in REM sleep we are able to make new associations between things very rapidly. EMDR is designed to tap into this high-speed processing mode that we all have, helping the brain to process the unresolved memories and make them less distressing.

During EMDR therapy sessions, you relive traumatic or triggering experiences for a very brief moment while the therapist directs your eye movements.

EMDR is thought to be effective because recalling distressing events is often less emotionally upsetting when your attention is diverted. This allows you to be exposed to the memories or thoughts without having a strong psychological response. Over time, this technique is believed to lessen the impact that the memories or thoughts have on you.

EMDR was developed to resolve symptoms resulting from disturbing and traumatic life experiences. It is particularly used in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.

More about EMDR therapy ...

Gestalt therapy

The name Gestalt is derived from the German for ‘whole’ or ‘pattern’. It looks at the individual as a whole, and within their surroundings, rather than breaking things into parts. Gestalt therapists help you to focus on the here and now and your immediate thoughts, feelings and behaviour to better understand how you relate to others and to situations. This can help you find a new, positive perspective on problems and bring about changes in your life.

Gestalt therapy often includes acting out scenarios and dream recall, and is effective in treating issues such as anxiety, stress, addiction, tension and depression.

Humanistic therapy

A humanistic therapist follows the approach that focuses on the individual as a whole. The humanistic therapist will enco0urage you to think about your feelings and take responsibility for your thoughts and actions. The emphasis is on self-development and achieving your highest potential rather than on problematic behaviour. Many 'named' therapies such as 'Gestalt', 'person-centred', 'transactional analysis' and 'transpersonal' are humanistic approaches.

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP)

NLP combines cognitive behavioural and humanistic therapies with hypnotherapy. It works on the theory that life experiences, from birth onwards, programme the way you see the world. An NLP therapist will help you to discover how you have learnt to think or feel so that you can take control of your actions. They will also look at your successes, so you can use these to develop further successful skills and behaviours.

NLP is often used as an additional way of working with other types of therapy rather than on its own.

Psychodynamic psychotherapy

The psychodynamic approach is derived from psychoanalysis, and stresses the importance of the unconscious and past experience in shaping your current behaviour. The aim of the sessions will be to build an accepting and trusting relationship between you and your therapist, helping you to talk about your childhood relationships with your parents and other significant people. It also uses techniques such as free association, interpretation and transference, where feelings you experienced in previous significant relationships are projected onto the therapist as part of the therapy process.

Psychodynamic psychotherapy can be used in Relationship and Couples Counselling.

Relationship therapy

Our lives are made of of relationships, not simply our intimate loving relationships with partners and family but also those with friends, acquaintances and work colleages.

Relationship therapy encourages the parties in a relationship to recognise often repeating patterns of rritation, annoyance and distress and to understand and manage troublesome differences that they are experiencing.

What are the different professional bodies and associations?

Whether you are looking to find a psycotherapist, counsellor or executive coach, it can be hard to decide who you should choose. Looking for a therapist who is a registered member or associated to a recognised professional body is a good start. All therapists who run their private practice at City Therapy Rooms are associated to at least one of these professional bodies. You can see which one under the heading 'Qualifications & Training' on each of the therapists profile pages.

There are a number of professional bodies that represent the 'Talking Therapies' industry, some have a wide remit and cover general 'therapies' whilst others focus on specific models of therapy.

Each professional body will have developed their own unique set of criteria for membership, which in most cases will involve proof of a relevant qualification and evidence of training within the field.

In addition to entry requirements, many professional organisations will also require their members to undertake regular ‘Continuing Professional Development’ (CPD), which simply explained is a way for talking therapists to track and document any skills gained or learned in addition to their initial training, so clients can see that they are continuing to develop their skill set.

Most professional bodies will provide a range of different membership categories, with the level of training and experience possessed determining which category the member slots into (e.g. Student Member, Associate Member, Member, Accredited Member).

City Therapy Rooms therapists are all registered with one of the professional bodies, it is comforting to know that they are qualified and working to high standards within the industry – which is why we only list practitioners who have provided us with proof of a relevant qualification and insurance cover and proof of registration with a professional body.

Why is it important that you know which professional body the therapist is associated with?

We hope that it will never be necessary, but should you have a complaint about the professionalism of a therapist, you will be able to take it up with the specific governing body that the therapist is registered with.

Here is a list of the more widely recognised professional bodies. Each of the therapist's profiles will also state which professional body that therapist is associated with. Click on any of them to go to their website to find out more.